GANGA 66th Issue | Page 7

Newsletter No. 65; IRBMS IRBMS NEWS RIVERS OF INDIA Recent Activities of Integrated River Basin Brahmaputra River Management Society Brahmaputra River Project In India Watershed Management Programme: There are Part-6 two projects being carried out under the Jharkhand A number of Dams and reservoirs have been Vikash Parishad (JVP) and Mohammad bazar created on the tributaries of the Brahmaputra Backward Class Development Society (MBBCDS) River mainly in Eastern Himalayan region. Most of 1) Nipania, a tribal village in Pakur district, these dams are in highly disaster and earthquake Jharkhand.-With an average annual rainfall of prone areas. 1200mm. the Pakur district is very much drought Ranjit Dam: affected. The village is mostly inhabited by The Ranjit River on which the Ranjit Dam is scheduled Tribes who have no scope of any located, is a major right bank tributary of the employment and no scope of any food security. Teesta River in Sikkim. At the dam site, the Under the circumstances, watershed management catchment area drained is 712 sq. k.m. The dam is programme has been initiated by IRBMS which located about 130 k.m. from Siliguri and 70 k.m. will be an attempt to put into optimum use of from Gangtok. The annual flow of the river at the basic location of the dam has been estimated as 6.96 natural resources, occurring within a watershed area – and uprising of normal livelihood m.cu.m. pattern through self-help activities. The dam is 45 m. high concrete gravity structure of 2) Hirapur, a tribal village in Dumka district, 100 m. length. The reservoir created behind the Jharkhand – Dumka is a drought stricken districts dam has a storage capacity of 11.75 m. cu. m. The of Jharkhand. The primary source of livelihood is storage water is used for hydropower generation. agriculture. Mohammad Bajar Backward Class The power generation is of the order of 39 MW, Development Society, joining hands with IRBMS corresponding to annual energy generation of 340 has initiated an ecologically viable development GWh. The project was completed in 1999 by work in land, water and energy sectors leading to NHPC, and started operating in 2000. Three other sustainable A projects on the Rangit River planned and under watershed area has been selected in Dumka development - are the Rangit Stage II (60 MW district, around which the watershed management capacity), Rangit Stage IV (120 MW capacity), and programme has been initiated. Jorethong HEP (96 MW) the - last two projects are socio-economic improvement. 7 Integrated River Basin Management Society